COMMUTERS trying to get home for Christmas face disruption to their journeys due to engineering work.

No trains wil run between Colchester and London Liverpool Street from 10pm on Christmas Eve and 7am on December 27.

All services from Colchester and Clacton will finish at Ilford on December 27 and 28 and January 1 to 3.

Instead, rail users travelling to London must change at Romford and take a replacement bus service to Newbury Park tube station.

Between December 29 and 31 train services from north Essex stations will run as far as Stratford.

From there passengers can take the tube to reach central London.

Railway firm Network Rail said the closures are part of £200 million project to upgrade its lines.

Engineers will be dismantling a bridge between Ilford and Stratford and replacing overhead power lines between London Liverpool Street and Stratford.

All the work is expected to finish by January 4.

Train operators National Express East Anglia have advised passengers to check for any changes before setting off.

Details can be found at www.nationalexpresseastanglia.com.